Indian steel tycoon bids to operate cheap flights

new delhi/mumbai — JSW Group, the Indian conglomerate led by billionaire Savitri Jindal, applied under a subsidy programme spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve flight connectivity for small towns and villages.

The group made a bid in an ongoing auction process which will allow companies asking for minimum government subsidies to operate scheduled commercial flights to the country’s underutilised airstrips. The aim is to improve connectivity between the group’s plants, chief financial officer Seshagiri Rao said on Monday. The firm isn’t bidding under listed entities such as JSW Steel, India’s largest privately owned producer of the material.

Modi has promised tax breaks and waivers of landing and parking charges for some under-used airfields in the world’s fastest growing aviation market, which is also among the costliest due to taxes and airport charges. The prime minister is trying to connect India’s 450 airports and airstrips, mostly in smaller towns, by vowing to fund some of the airlines’ losses if they fly to such airports.

Shares of JSW Steel extended gains to 1.6 per cent after the news. They were up 0.6 per cent at ₹188.15 as of 11.25am in Mumbai, while the Sensex index was little changed.

JSW Group, whose businesses range from metals to power generation, also plans to venture into electric cars by 2020 on expectations the government will promote such vehicles and falling battery prices will make them more affordable, chairman Sajjan Jindal said in January. — Bloomberg